Reputable Carrier that allows self-dispatch on DAT/Truckstop?

I was leased to DSV who offered this.. but i dont see why anybody would do it. I did it a couple times when i needed a backhaul and nobody had anything ... And to say you dont want to run off of internal freight, i mean thats the whole point of leasing to a company is to get access to their freight, rather than running off a load board.. if you want to run load board freight keep 100% of the rate and get ur own authority... Why would u wanna give 25% or more off the top just to run load board.. thats one of the dumbest things ive heard. The company u lease to is not offering anything of value if this is the case. So u will be using their insurance and irp and ifta etc and if they are taking 25% that is going to be approximatly 80k+ a year you will be giving them for basic stuff you can do yourself if you just wanna run load board crap, and the cherry on top is the company is still going to charge you for that stuff they are just managing it for you.

 

Your plan seems to me is flawed.You want to lease to a carrier and only run broker freight and give a percentage of that away to.You do realize you have to differentiate companies with there hands in your pocket doing that.If you wanted to lease to a carrier at least I would want my outbound load to be a company load and back haul broker freight.Why would you want to just run off load boards you have obviously never done that yes it’s easy in a great economy but horribly inefficient if not.Good luck

 

How does one become reputable? I'm a carrier, reasonably new with an MC in its second year. Time enough to start offering leases. I'm doing exactly what you said, every owner op does his own thing his own way. If you have shippers, use 'em, if you run the boards, then watch the boards. I want to achieve economies of scale, meaning I just want enough truckers running with me to start getting better prices on stuff and start selling lanes, so everyone wins.

Nobody knows my name but I reckon owners should get 90% if they're running their own business. I think fuel surcharges need to be calculated for every load whether the broker says so or not. Especially lately.

I've been driving 5 years now. I know what I want and I've not seen anyone offering it. I'm sure I'm not alone. There must be other small carriers out there doing similar as me, but all I have to attract owners is freedom to run their own business. I can't offer big reputation, thousands of brokers, or a plate program (pretty sure its better to have your own plate anyway, no captivity.)

Not trying to break any rules here, so no names or numbers. Just saying I think it is a very reasonable model. But not at the crazy rates most carriers are putting out.

 

% means little without knowing what other charges there will be.

 

Not wrong, but wrapping extras into a percentage means you never really know what you're paying for them. High percentage with ala cart charges means no carrier can force you to pay for services. Carriers aren't allowed to force purchases or leases, I can't even mandate ELDs if I want to charge back for them. They can provide free stuff then hike the percentage. Like dispatch for example, self dispatch means a subscription to the board of choice. Free dispatch service ain't free if the carrier is taking 25-30%. Free IFTA? Same deal.

The hardest thing for small carriers to do is compete on insurance. If I make 5% after expenses from an OO that's a real win, but I can't offer $500/month for insurance. That's unattainable for me.

Get the highest percentage possible and run your own business or get the company that supplies the best paying loads and leave them their cut. Personally, I don't want a carrier telling me what loads i gotta take or where I gotta take them. But I'm not everyone.

 

Why lease to anyone that doesn’t have contract freight? I wouldn’t give up extra money to chase spot freight. The whole purpose of leasing to a carrier is to take advantage of what they can offer you while having access to their freight to avoid brokers.

 

You wouldn't believe how many want to do that.

 

Direct truck expense should be the only charge, insurance(liability/cargo should be in the %.
Not entirely true about ELD, the lease can specify a particular one and require that it integrates with the carriers TMS and the carrier has admin access.

 

I often wonder if that's how carriers promise such cheap insurance rates. Some promise less than $500/month. I know fleets over 50(or so) start negotiating a little better on rates, but typical is still around $1500 for carrier responsibility. Unless you wanna move to WV. As for wrapping that into the % I think that's a mistake for the owner op. Think about it, revenue isn't a constant. As a carrier there's no way I can pay out more than comes in so I'm necessarily going to ensure that percentage covers a poor month. If I increase my percentage by 10%, say 90/10 to an 80/20, plus deduct $500/month, I'm making extra money on an average month. 80% is still fairly competitive.

A $20k linehaul month should be pretty average, and that extra 10% is $2k. Add in the $500 deduction and to show low cost insurance I'm adding $1000/month to my bottom line at the owner's expense. What if the month is stellar at $30k? Wrapping insurance into the percentage only puts my hands deeper into the owner op's pockets.

I can mandate an ELD that works for me, but do I really want my admin to have to access a different dashboard for every truck? If I'm not dispatching in house i don't need much more than my ELD software as a TMS. It's more cost effective to just pay for the ELD. Yes, it comes out of my cut so it's still paid for by the OO, and it's legal. I can't deduct the $100/mo. without violating the no mandate law.

As for why someone would want to self-dispatch on the spot market, I reckon because it puts them in total charge. I've seen too many stories of carriers having their dispatch send bogus ratecons and skimming off the top. Total transparency if you're doing the negotiations.

Lastly, if you just want to drive your truck it makes no sense to go through the expense and hassle of getting an MC and spending the entire first year barely able to qualify for a load. If you want to build a fleet, why not find the best split you can and build under another carrier while "baking" your own MC? If you're self-dispatch then you're building your own relationships.

I'm a driver too. I know what it costs to pull a skateboard around.

 

If they’re leased to a good carrier with contract freight they don’t have to worry about negotiations because there isn’t a broker involved in the picture.

If leased to a carrier the carrier should be on the hook for their liability and cargo insurance, as well as the trailer if they are providing it. All the truck owner should have to worry about is physical damage on his truck and his non-trucking liability policy.